DIY: Leather Cutout Necklace

Today’s necklace DIY is one that came about after being inspired by this piece that I saw while sorting through my stash of magazines.

I'm still such a magazine girl - as fun as it is to read them on a tablet, I always get so much inspiration flipping through the pages and tearing/cutting up/tagging my favorite outfits and accessories.  I had an OG Pinterest board (aka a big scrapbook) that I used to paste outfit ideas in with a glue stick many, many years back.  Guaranteed there are quite a few Cher Horowitz looks in it!  Enough with the reminiscing...back to the necklace!

I met up with my crafty partner-in-crime, Sonya Nimri, for a jewelry making day.  Using a Cricut Cuttlebug and some scrap pieces of leather, we were going to have our copycat necklace in no time.  We used a diamond shape template to create our leather shapes just because there weren't any long oval shaped ones in our stash that would match the inspiration piece.  The essence of the original necklace will still be there!

We placed our leather on top of the template and wound it through the Cuttlebug to get perfectly cut diamond shaped pieces.

We cranked and cranked to create a stash of diamonds in three different sizes.

We needed to punch holes in each shape, so using an awl, we stamped the top of each diamond.  These holes allowed jump rings to be attached, making each shape ready to be hung from a chain.

After spacing and a color design was decided upon, each diamond was added to a chain.  Unfortunately, none of the chains I had on hand had big enough links to fit the jump rings, so I picked one up in the jewelry making section at Jo-Ann's.  There were tons of options and all were super reasonable, in case you run into the same issue as me!

After adding all the leather bits and clasping the jump rings with pliers, the copycat necklace was complete!

I love me some statement necklaces!!

Always love the sneaky shots that I don't know about when other people are playing photog :)

You can find leather scraps in the remnants section at your local fabric store, or what I love doing is buying old beat up leather garments and just cutting pieces from those.

This is definitely a piece that will be getting tons of wear this fall.  So easy to throw on top of anything basic to make it pop!

I think I just like the word pop.  Music.  Drinks.  Clothes.  Me through the screen.  You really can't go wrong!

Anne's NDAD Creation

Anne had a wedding to attend and she found just the perfect piece to remake.  Check it out...

You have inspired me!  I am going to a wedding at a winery in Temecula in a week and it is going to be HOT.  The colors in this Goodwill dress said "winery," so I bought it for less than $6.  When I tried it on, it was like  WOAH...Little Old Lady Time!  Even the girls were horrified...

Marisa says to remove shoulder pads, so I followed suit.

I didn't stop there...

I cut the underskirt off and turned it into a top.

I ended up making a b-i-g-g-g-g-g-g gather along the right side...

...and added a great suede skirt from a thrift shop to wear underneath, some new beaded sandals, and a Carlos Santana fringy purse to complete the look.

Ready to celebrate with a glass of wine!  Thanks for the inspiration!

PS, Anne sent in fab pics from her wine country wedding wearing her new piece and it's making me want to re-visit my little wine weekend getaway that I had last weekend!

Such a beautiful bunch of gals - nothing like a girls' weekend to enjoy some sips and celebrate good friends.

Thanks so much for sharing your piece, Anne!  I love that you saw vision in this dress - the fabric completely screams winery and it's so fantastic that you knew exactly what you wanted to do.  It looks like you had such a wonderful time.  Makes me smile :)  (And...awesome job removing those shoulder pads!!)

Giveaway: Black Vintage Cocktail Purse

In my organizational frenzy, I've been sorting through tons of things in my closet and jewelry box, clearing out shop.  It feels SO good to make edits on pieces that I just haven't used in a while. I have a few bags ready to drop off at Goodwill, a bunch of things that I'll put up on etsy, and a few things I thought I could pass along to you guys.  Like this...

I've had this lovely black vintage clutch for years!  It's one that I've brought to many a cocktail party and just need to retire.  I have another slightly larger black purse that has been my go-to lately, so I figured this would be part of the stash I'd offer to you guys!

It's got a lovely gold chain strap that's easily tuckable for when you want to just carry by hand.

To enter, leave a comment below of something that you've just retired.  Perhaps it's a summer beach chair, a swimsuit that has begun to fade, or maybe you've just retired!!  I'll sort through all the contest winners next week from the most recent giveaways and deem a random winner for this lovely piece as well!

Happy Weekend, everyone!  TGIF!